SURPLISE! Surplise, Surprise?

Sorry Familia,

It's been a long time since I've been able to email Thursday morning. And I think I missed your EMAIL?

I'm so glad I got Ian, Dad's and Cami's email--and Sister Rinda, my visiting teacher, too!--and miss you all.

I have big news--I'm moving to MACAU! It's a really special, weird area. Haaa, I actually just remembered before moves calls responding to some sister who was worried her family wouldn't know she's moving, "Eh, I'm not worried about letting my family know; they probably wouldn't even notice unless I went somewhere crazy like Macau or something."

It's NOT EVEN PART OF HONG KONG. I have to have my passport and take a 3 hour boat to get there, and we don't come back for ANYTHING in the normal HK mission schedule--activities, conferences, temple visits, nothing (except ELDER OAKS IS COMING ON MAY 22 YES!).

Sister Cook was extremely ...english word... shocked? The words she used were "it's like they're ripping the umbilical cord out!" so... however that translates ;) That poor, poor baby.

If only you could see how much chocolate and ice cream we consumed on Tuesday night trying to deal with the news I think it'd also help communicate the depth of emotion going on here.

Sister Cook will be absolutely fantastic here in Yuen Long with Sister Nielson, and though I"ll miss it TOO MUCH I know they'll be exactly what the area needs. She'll have such a great opportunity to spread her wings, get her feet under her, shake off her momma's yoke that had her bound etc etc all those other turning of age analogies. See Where the Red Fern Grows.

Anyway. I'm sUPER excited for O-Muhn (its Chinese name is weird because it was owned by Portugal for a while)... I don't know why I'm telling you random facts because you can all just look it up on Wiki and be DONE. Here we wallow in ignorance and half-truths and I'm-not-sures... but it's kinda cool that way because I just go and LIVE it and make my own connections, I don't get to learn about an area before I move there first (kinda like learning Chinese--after a couple moves HERE you open up your grammar book again and go "OOOOoooooh, that's totally what they say...." Learning like a native!). So I'll be writing on a totally new slate.

Speaking of a new slate, I'm gonna get to open up a new companionship! No investigators, no reputation, no area book, no phone even. WOOT! I'll be with a BUN DEIH (sounds like boon-day and means NATIVE) named Sister Wong. She's renowned in the mission for being tho very young, having a lot of previous trainining on how to work with wards because her dad was bishop for TEN YEARS.

Excuse That English grammar sentence structure bleh. Anyway. I'm SO EXCITED.

Generally bun deihs get to stay in Macau for a long time and Americans for VERY SHORT. There is a competition in fact because there are many missionaries-tried-not-quite-true-but-we're-still-trying to get "more time" in Macau because it's basically entirely up to the visa person who stamps your card as you go in.

Generally you get 30 days, then 20, then 10 and then you're done. In between those periods you have to come BACK to HK and sleep in the mission office for a night! SO WEIRD! Supposedly if you look like a bun deih, sometimes you can get more time. ...my plan is to weird everyone out by SOUNDING like a bun deih so I can have more! Or maybe I should try the "I just want to come spend a lot of money gambling and take a ton of pictures tourist" trick...

Macau makes moves/calls really interesting in the mission because of the weird schedule. When people get more or less time than they thought they'd get, the whole mission gets turned upside down and scrambles for companions and areas. I'M SO EXCITED!.

I think I just wrote that whole paragraph within parentheses.--FIX IT MOM PLEASE.

I'm super mhsedak (translation... don't want to leave, seperation not okay) this area. Last night we called a bunch of ward members and investigators and ate orange slices and salsa on pringles (long story...) and took pictures and bore testimonies and played guitar and cried. They are so amazing and I'm seriously so blessed to have served and been served by them. I can't imagine living my life without meeting them... this mission really means everything to the rest of my life. It changes how I see everything.

Yesterday by miracle Buddist holiday luck we got to go visit Carrie--my last time ever! I love her so much. I felt like I should be bawling the whole time--especially as her little daughter Nana said she'd wait to perform on violin until next time we visited and Carrie said "Nana, we don't know when the next time is! We may not see Sister Darcey until you are very big!" but I guess I was just numb.

I love that family so much. C drew me a picture--I PROMISE I'll send a picture next week--of ME! In Macau! The picture is so beautiful. She wrote a poem on it, too, in Chinese... wow. I will never forget her. I seriously am a witness of God's grace. I'm given so many things I just don't deserve. Strength and will to breathe and do and then blessings when I obey, too!

I also got to say farewell to Sister P again this week--AND so many beloved friends from my last areas! The sweet L and the N families from MOS, tiny T A and LOVELY L from Sha Tin, A. (my summer missionary) from Tai Po (we're going to be at BYU at the same time! I'm going to make her come over every night and speak Chinese with me. I seriously love that woman so much) and of course Elders Dashtrup and Dodd and Sister Lam who are dying today.

What a terrific opportunity, but as the Lord Leads, I go.

Sister Darcey in Macau!